The Kellogg Institute for International Studies, part of the University of Notre Dame’s new Keough School of Global Affairs, is an interdisciplinary community of scholars that promotes research, provides educational opportunities, and builds linkages related to democracy and human development.

I work with Dr. Smith-Oka on her research on the education experience of medical students in Mexico, specifically looking at the ways through which knowledge is transmitted during the internship year and the social networks of older and younger medical professionals. In this role, I have assisted with translating and transcribing interviews, surveys, and field notes. With her support, I am also working towards a senior thesis in the Anthropology department exploring the sociocultural factors that impact medical students' decision to smoke cigarettes and the perceptions of health professionals as role models for the community. I am specifically hoping to understand which areas of medical education and Mexican culture influence health decision making.

In the past few years I have had several formative opportunities to explore my interests in global health and international research. I received an Experiencing the World Fellowship from Kellogg after my sophomore year and spent two months in the Amazonian region of Peru studying medicinal plants and their role in the health system. The following year I studied abroad in Puebla, Mexico where I returned this past summer to complete interviews with Mexican medical students for my senior thesis project.